Toy compound winch



Dec. 14, 1965 TOY COMPOUND WINCH Filed July 26, 1963 M. H. FRISBIE ETAL /47'70RNEY United States Patent O 3,223,386 TGY CMPGUND WNCH Rial-shall H. Frishie, Hamden, and William A. Scholeiield,

East Haven, Conn., assignors to The A. C. Gilbert Campany, New Haven, Conn., a corporation of Maryland Filed Italy 26, 1963, Ser. No. 297,369 7 Claims. (Cl. 25d- 185) This invention relates to devices for transmitting power from a. single prime mover (not shown in detail herein) to a compositely animated toy such as a load handling derrick carried on a wheeled truck, the derrick performing sequentially with travel of the truck, or a stationary earth-working toy wherein the boom of a derrick can be rotated at one time and swung up or down at another time, or a toy wherein the clam shell bucket of a crane can be lowered or lifted and then opened -to dump the shovel contents later, all by power derived from the same prime mover.

An object of the invention is to accomplish for purposes such as those mentioned diversity of power transmittance from a common prime mover to a plurality of winch drums, preferably compacted into a single toy unit, a choice of which drums can be driven selectively from such single prime mover.

Another object is to provide a stop to limit the rotation of one winch drum while the other is being power driven.

Another object is operatively to correlate at least two of the above said stops with at least two winch drums, respectively, so that one stop acts on one drum at the same time that the other drum is released from the other stop.

Another object is mechanically to associate the application and release of the stops with respect to their respective winch drums simultaneously with the shifting of power drive from one winch drum to the other.

These and related objects of the present improvements will become apparent in greater detail in the following description of a successful embodiment of the invention having reference to the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 is a plan view of an improved compound winch embodying a successful form of the invention compacted into a unitary toy.

FIG. 2 is a plan View like FIG. 1 with cover parts of the toy unit removed and showing the winch drums and drive shifting lever partly in section, a prime mover being coupled to the compound winch unit.

FIG. 3 is a front view of the toy unit of FIG. l taken partially in section on the plane 3-3 in FIG. 1 with certain of the parts broken away to expose the mechanism of the power transmission.

FIG. 4 is an end view looking from the right at FG. 3 showing the framework and shifter lever partially broken away to expose parts that are sectioned on the plane 4 4 in FIG. 3.

FIG. 5 is an enlarged view of the shifter lever taken in section on the plane 5-5 in FIG. 3 looking in the direction of the arrows.

The framework of the compound winch unit comprises a box-like structure which may be molded from suitably hard plastic material to provide a closed base 11 and upstanding side walls 12 and 13 on which latter there is removably mounted a cap 1li bridging part of the open top of the toy and whose lower edge meets the top edges of the side walls. Cap 14 thus serves to complete rotary bearing support for three shafts 1S, 19 and 29, respectively, which rest in notches 15, 16 and 1'7 in the side walls 12 and 13. These three rotary bearings in the frame structure are in a common horizontal plane. The side walls 12 and 13 are connected by a front wall ICC 22. Cap 14 is removably secured to the top of the side walls by screws 21.

Shaft 20 carries llxedly thereon a winch drum 26 shown in the drawings to be wound with a flexible draw line 27 adapted to run to some movable part of a toy (not herein shown) thus to be animated by the winding on and paying off of line 27 which occurs when the drum is turned in opposite directions. Line operated toy parts commonly are self restoring to the position from which displaced by a draw line such as 27 and slack in the line is prevented from tangling by the cover lip 33. Another winch drum 23 is shown to be loosely rotatable on shaft 2) and is likewise wound with a different draw line 29 which can be payed off from and rewound on drum 2S and which is assumed to extend to some different movable part of the same or a different animated toy (not shown).

According to the present improvements the winch drums 26 and 28 have gear toothed flanges 30 and 31 respectively which are axially spaced apart far enough to enable a shiftable selector pinion 32 to rotate idly in the space therebetween while free of driving engagement with either of gears 30 and 31 as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. Selector pinion 32 is free to be shifted axially in unison with shaft 19 to which it is fixed into and out of mesh with the gear teeth on either of the drum heads 30 and 31 but can drive only one of the winch drums at a time. Pinion 32 is shiftable axially between its neutral position and either driving position by a shifter lever 36 that upstands from a raised boss 37 on the base 11 of framework 19 and is pivotally mounted thereon at its bottom end by means of its trunnion 38 which is journaled in boss 37.

Lever 36 is thus manually swingable between its full line position and broken line positions in FIGURE 3.

FIGS. 2, 3 and 5 show that a lower portion of shifter lever 36 forms a channel occupied by a shoulder affording enlargement 23 of shaft 19 which enables the shaft to be reciprocated in axial directions by the swinging throw of lever 36. The thicker top end portion 39 of lever 36 may be of rigid plastic material secured to an upper extension 40 of the channel portion by means of a bolt and nut 41, 42 to serve convenien-tly as a handle. Below the plastic handle 39, a rear wall of the channel is bumped outward toward the right at 43 in FIG. 5 to register detentively with any one of three holes 44 in an upstanding bracket which may be thin resilient sheet metal stationed on base 37 by screws 46. See FIG. 3. This permits willful swinging of shifter lever 36 while acting as a yieldable detent to hold the lever in selected positions.

In FIG. 2, Si) designates a prime mover which may be an electric motor whose output shaft 51 is removably coupled by collar 52 to the aforesaid input shaft 18. Shaft 18 carries a universal drive pinion 53 with respect to which the selector drive pinion 32 remains in mesh at all times.

In order to restrain either winch drum against rotation while the other drum is being rotated, each of the relatively remote flanges 58 and 59 on the respective drums 26 and 28 carries on its ilat outer face a suitable number of circularly spaced detent shoulders in the form of lugs 60 projecting axially from flange 58 and similar lugs 61 projecting from flange 59 near the perimeters of the flanges. These lugs revolve in circular paths into which respectively there extend the brake arms 62 and 63. These arms are resilient strips xedly lodged at their bottom ends in snug tting grooves at each lower front corner of the framework walls 12 and 13. Each of the brake arms 62 and 63 is spring biased toward the other and toward a diierent one of the winch drums and when not withheld from such position both brake arms 62 and 63 press yieldingly against the outer flat surfaces of the winch drum lianges as shown in broken lines in FIG. 4, and as arm 63 is shown in FIG. 2. Either brake arm alone can be displaced from contact with its winch drum and withdrawn from the path of revolution of its detent lugs 6) or 61 by axial movement of shaft 18 horizontally toward one side or the other of its neutral position shown in FIGS. 1 and 3. Thus in FIG. 2 the shoulder on shaft 19 at the right of pinion 32 has acted to separate brake arm 62 from detentive contact with winch drum 36 just before selector pinion 32 moves into mesh with drum gear 343 so that pinion 32 is able to drive winch drum 26 while the other winch drum 28 remains blocked against rotation by the other brake arm 63.

FIG. 4 shows that each of the brake arms 62 and 63 is provided with horizontally elongated slots 64 through which slots the shafts 1S and 19 pass respectively in a manner to give brake arms freedom to liex left and right in FIG. 2. FIG. shows that shifter lever 36 has a vertically elongated slot 65 lthrough which shaft 29 passes in a manner to leave the shifter lever free to swing about its pivotal mounting 38.

In describing the operation it will be assumed that the draw lines 27, 29 are connected in a manner to animate toys that are associated so as to perform pseudo related operations sequentially. Or the draw lines may be connected to different parts of the same toy that perform related operations sequentially. The input shaft 1S is constantly rotated by a single electric motor 60 to whose output shaft 51 the input shaft 1S of the compound winch is coupled as shown in FIGS. l and 2. The shifter lever 39, when in vertical position as in FIGS. l and 3, places selector pinion 32 in the clearance space between the winch drums so that neither of the drums is driven thereby. By swinging lever 39 to the broken line position toward the right in FIG. 3, selector pinion 32 is shifted into mesh with the gear teeth 30 on drum 26 while remaining in mesh with and driven by universal pinion 52 as shown in FIG. 3. This same movement of the shifter lever has caused shaft 19 to force stop arm 62 out of the path of revolution of the detent lugs 60 so that drum 26 is free to be rotated in a direction to pull on the toy animating draw line 27. When shifter lever 39 is swung to its broken line position at the left in FIG. 3, selector pinion 32 is shifted into mesh with the gear teeth 31 on drum 28 while still remaining in mesh with and driven by universal pinion 53. This movement of the shifter lever permits stop arm 62 to resume its broken line drum braking position in FIG. 1 where it serves to positively stop the rotation of drum 26 while drum 28 is now driven by selector pinion 32 so as to pull on the toy animating draw line 29 it being freed for rotation by the shifting of shaft 19 toward the left which forces stop arm 63 out of the path of revolution of detent lugs 61.

What is claimed is:

1. A toy compound winch for selectively diversifying the action of winch animated toys by power obtained from a single prime mover comprising, a plurality of winch drums each carrying gear teeth and adapted to take in and pay olf a toy animating draw line, a rotary support for said drums permitting sequential rotation thereof independently of each other, a power intake shaft adapted to be driven by a prime mover, and variable power transmitting connections between said intake shaft and said drums including a selector pinion supported for rotary movement and also for axial movement into and out of mesh with said gear teeth on either of said winch drums together with a single shifter member connected to move said selector pinion in axial directions, and separate stop means movable between positions operative to brake or release for rotation each of said winch drums, said separate stop means being operably related to said single shifter member.

2. A compound toy winch as defined in claim 1, in which the said stop comprises a resilient brake arm normally biased in a direction toward the said first winch drum, together with circularly spaced detent shoulders on said first winch drum revolving therewith in a path to be intercepted on occasions by said stop.

3. A toy compound Winch as defined in claim 1, together with stops each separately shiftable between positions operative to break or release for rotation a different one of the said winch drums, each of said stops being operably related to the said selectively shiftable means to transmit power.

4. In a toy compound winch the combination of, a frame base having walls upstanding therefrom, bearing notches in the tops of said walls, at least three parallel shafts resting rotatably in said notches, removable means to retain said shafts iixedly spaced apart in said notches, two independently geared winch drums on one of said shafts, and a power supplied driving pinion on another said shaft and a selector pinion on the remaining shaft constantly in mesh with said driving pinion and shiftable axially between positions to mesh with either of said geared winch drums.

5. In a toy compound winch the combination defined in claim 4, in Which the said axially shiftable pinion is fixed on the said second shaft whereby to be shifted axially by endwise sliding movement of said second shaft in its said bearing notch.

6. In a toy compound winch the combination defined in claim 5, together with a resilient brake arm normally biased into interceptive position with respect to one of the said winch drums, said brake arm being operably related to the said second shaft in a manner to be withdrawn from said interceptive position by the said endwise sliding movement of said second shaft, whereby said one of the said winch drums is freed to rotate when the said driving pinion is shifted into mesh therewith and at other times is held from rotating by said brake arm.

7. In a toy compound Winch the combination defined in claim 6, in which the said brake arm contains at least one hole through which at least one of the said shafts extends.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS FOREIGN PATENTS 488,204 12/1929 Germany.

SAMUEL F. COLEMAN, Primary Examiner. 

1. A TOY COMPOUND WINCH FOR SELECTIVELY DIVERSIFYING THE ACTION OF WINCH ANIMATED TOYS BY POWER OBTAINED FROM A SINGLE PRIME MOVER COMPRISING, A PLURALITY OF WINCH DRUMS EACH CARRYING GEAR TEETH AND ADAPTED TO TAKE IN AND PAY OFF A TOY ANIMATING DRAW LINE, A ROTARY SUPPORT FOR SAID DRUMS PERMITTING SEQUENTIAL ROTATION THEREOF INDEPENDENTLY OF EACH OTHER, A POWER INTAKE SHAFT ADAPTED TO BE DRIVEN BY A PRIME MOVER, AND VARIABLE POWER TRANSMITTING CONNECTIONS BETWEEN SAID INTAKE SHAFT AND SAID DRUMS INCLUDING A SELECTOR PINION SUPPORTED FOR ROTARY MOVEMENT AND ALSO FOR AXIAL MOVEMENT INTO AND OUT OF MESH WITH SAID GEAR TEETH ON EITHER OF SAID WINCH DRUMS TOGETHER WITH A SINGLE SHIFTER MEANS CONNECTED TO MOVE SAID SELECTOR PINION IN AXIAL DIRECTIONS, AND SEPARATE STOP MEANS MOVABLE BETWEEN POSITIONS OPERATIVE TO BRAKE OR RELEASE FOR ROTATION EACH OF SAID WINCH DRUMS, SAID SEPARATE STOP MEANS BEING OPERATIVELY RELATED TO SAID SINGLE SHIFTER MEMBER. 